Ashley Berard began her first year at Thompson Rivers University in much the same way many students do — with a sense of excitement and trepidation, not yet completely certain where her educational path might lead.

“I just wanted to do something that might matter, and that might make a difference.” — Ashley Berard, UREAP-Winter 2014

But she didn’t have to wait long to discover her passion.

“In my first week of my first year I took a sociology course and just loved it instantly,” she says.

By year three, she had a clearer vision of the future and was aiming for graduate school. She saw the opportunity to benefit from the Undergraduate Research Experience Award Program (UREAP) and went for it with the support of Dr. Meridith Burles, whose research focuses on medical sociology.

The project, With the Dragon Wrapped Around Us: Examining the Creation of an Online Discourse while Negotiating Fibromyalgia, developed from an assignment to create a qualitative research project.

Fibromyalgia was a fascinating illness, says Berard, as there is no biomedical criteria with which to provide a diagnosis, and there is no known cause.

Her project asked the question: “If individuals are given a diagnosis that conveys a lack of information, what tension does this create for them?” She began her study by using an online support group to learn how people view their illness and the challenges they face.

Berard discovered that the online forum became a place people would go to seek knowledge that they were unable to find elsewhere.

“They were coming on and looking for anything from symptoms and treatment — including basic home remedies — to recommending doctors. People are becoming experts in their own illness because there is not really an expert in fibromyalgia.”

Currently in her first year of the Masters of Sociology program at the University of Victoria, Berard is expanding on her UREAP research for her thesis. Alongside Dr. Burles, she presented the research at the Qualitative Health Research Conference in Victoria in October, and is considering revising the report and submitting it for publication.

The whole experience has been invaluable, she says.

“I was really nervous coming into a master’s program, but having the UREAP behind me made me confident. It gives you great skills and has made such a difference.”